the system of direct democracy prevails in

the system of direct democracy prevails in

The pure form of direct democracy exists only in the Swiss cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus. … Switzerland is a rare example of a country with instruments of direct democracy (at the levels of the municipalities, cantons, and federal state). Citizens have more power than in a representative democracy.

Direct Democracy Direct democracy, usually called democracy pure and is the least common and represents a system of government in which the voting people on the decisions of the government , such as ratification of the laws or reject called direct democracy because people are engaged in direct decision – making without intermediaries or vice authority acting on their behalf. Historically, this form of government has been rare due to the difficulty of bringing all the individuals involved in one place to vote on decisions. Therefore, all direct democracies were in the form of relatively small societies, usually in the form of city-states, and the most famous of these democracies was ancient Athens, and in the present era Switzerland is the closest country to this system. [1]

See also: History of democracy

Compared to representative democracy
Crystal Clear app kdict.png Main article : Representative democracy
Examples
ancient athena
Main article: Athenian democracy

Switzerland
Main article: Voting in Switzerland
In Switzerland , the people are the final decision-maker in major issues, and the political system adopted in this country can be described as semi-direct democracy. Citizens can participate in the drafting of the provisions of the Constitution and the enactment of laws, along with Parliament, and nothing prevents them from doing so. [2]

During the year, Swiss citizens receive letters from the Confederation and the cantons, at least four times, inviting them to participate and express their views on an issue or group of issues on the national scene. Unlike democracies based on representative representation, the Swiss people have and regularly exercise the right to vote, as their supreme political authority.

Most of the voting takes place secretly, through ballot boxes or by postal correspondence, and some cantons and local groups still maintain the system of public assemblies, where citizens express their opinion by raising their hands.

The Swiss are also alone in the decision to organize a referendum or not. Direct referendums began in 1874 and was included in the federal constitution, followed by the right to launch popular initiatives during a partial revision of the constitution in 1891.

Amend the constitution
It becomes necessary for the government to organize a popular referendum on amending a chapter of the constitution or adding a new chapter, or even conducting a comprehensive review of it, if a request is submitted to it in this regard with the approval of 100,000 people. Before reaching this stage, many steps must be passed.

First, the signatures and the content and wording of the proposal are verified. After that, the Federal Council expresses its position on the project, before sending it to Parliament to determine its position.

Parliament later decides to invite the people to accept or reject the text of the initiative, and it may also decide to formulate a counter-project that will be presented to the citizens, along with the first initiative, for approval, and this is often repeated. The entire process may take many years, for the project to be approved or rejected.

The vast majority of initiatives calling for amending the constitution were rejected during referendums organized for this purpose. During the period between 1891 and 2007, citizens approved only 15 proposals to amend the constitution, but this does not mean that this democratic practice is futile. These initiatives represented, on many occasions, opportunities for a fruitful dialogue on important issues that would have passed unnoticed, without the attention of the political community.

Ratification of parliamentary decisions

One of the useful tools in direct democracy is the popular referendum. It gives citizens the opportunity to approve or reject decisions taken by Parliament, and some of those decisions are obligatory to take the opinion of the people. In this case, it is called a “compulsory referendum.”

In other cases, citizens wishing to block a parliamentary decision must collect 50,000 signatures to demand that the decision be brought before the people. Then there will be a “supplementary referendum”, which is also one of the advantages of the Swiss system.

Thanks to this supreme authority, which the constitution grants to the people, Parliament constantly invokes that its decisions are not final and that the people can reject them. Parliamentary committees are keen, during the formulation of their decisions, to take the opinion of the pressure forces, which can launch an initiative calling for a return to the people. Therefore, some experts prefer that They call the Swiss system “democracy of referendums.”

The principle of the referendum is applied at the level of cantons and local groups, and a local community, within its sphere of powers, can devise whatever means it likes to allow its citizens to exercise direct democracy.

In a related context, citizens of more than 84% of the total 3000 local groups in Switzerland gather at least once a year, in a general assembly at the level of the region, and this assembly is considered the legislative assembly of the district.

In the canton (Glarros) and half of the canton (Appenzell), there is organized once a year a large assembly attended by citizens who have the right to vote in a public square and take decisions by voting by show of hands, and this assembly represents the highest decision authority in the canton.

The people are always represented by a minority during elections

Swiss democracy remained until 1971 limited to men, at least at the federal level, and some cantons and local groups granted women the right to vote since the sixties, while this right was not granted to women at the federal level until 1971, and Switzerland was one of the last European countries to adopt this right. step.

But Swiss women, even after we were granted the right to vote, their participation was very limited and since the 1950s has not exceeded 50% in total.

By 1991, Swiss citizens had the right to vote for 18 years, and foreigners in some French-speaking cantons were allowed to vote and run for office at the cantonal and local group levels.

United State
Main article: History of direct democracy in the United States

electronic direct democracy
Relationship to other movements
in schools
Main article: Democratic school

contemporary movements
see also
anarchism
Democratic centralism
Direct Democracy Party of New Zealand
Legislative Juries
Libertarian municipalism
libertarian socialism
participatory democracy
sharing economy
popular gathering
Radical transparency
rationality and authority
Proxy voting, esp. delegated voting
Sociocracy
Exit
Soviet democracy
workers councils